May 28, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



841 



■writes of the destruction of Captain Bottego 

 while engaged in exploring the basins of the 

 Gava and of the Omo, the regions between the 

 Nile and Lake Rodolfo. Captain B6ttego left 

 Brava in the Benadir on October 12, 1895 ; 

 reached Lug on November 18th, founded the 

 station, started on December 27th with 180 

 men along the Ganane and the Gava, and kept 

 the Geographical Society informed of his suc- 

 cesses till April 22, 1896, when it forwarded 

 him news of the disasters in Abyssinia. The 

 bearer of this reached Lug in May and started 

 in quest of the expedition. Meanwhile indirect 

 news of Captain Bottego and his column as late 

 as October last represented him as having 

 gained the south shore of Lake Rodolfo on his 

 return journey, and further tidings reached 

 London that he was making for the coast of the 

 Indian Ocean, till on April 23d King Menelik 

 received a despatch announcing that on the 

 Ethiopian frontier towards Bare Captain B6t- 

 tego had come into conflict with a native tribe 

 and had been killed, that two other Italians 

 were made prisoners, and that the fourth Italian 

 member of the expedition had not been heard 

 of. Whether this is the medical officer. Profes- 

 sor Maurizio Sacchi, an able naturalist, is not 

 yet known. 



We have already called attention to the Inter- 

 national Congress of Mathematicians to be held 

 at Zurich. According to the Bulletin of the 

 American Mathematical Society the local com- 

 mittee announces the following general pro- 

 gram: Meetings of the entire Congress will be 

 held on Monday, August 9th, and Wednesday, 

 August 11th, at which questions of a more 

 general character will be discussed. Papers 

 dealing with special subjects will be presented 

 before the various sections on Tuesday, August 

 10th. The Congress will direct its attention 

 not only to purely scientific questions, but also 

 to matters of an executive and business nature, 

 such as questions of bibliography, lexicography, 

 terminology, cooperative scientific undertak- 

 ings, including historical investigations, com- 

 prehensive reports, the publication of treatises, 

 the holding of expositions, etc. 



An article in a recent issue of the London 

 J^mes advocates the renewal of Antarctic ex- 



ploration under the auspices of the British gov- 

 ernment. Belgium will send out an expedition 

 next September to the neighborhood of the Ant- 

 arctic, but it will be a small one and will de- 

 vote itself mainly to oceanographic work in the 

 vicinity of Graham's Land. There has been 

 some talk of a German expedition, but the col- 

 lection of the necessary funds seems to be mak- 

 ing slow progress. It is estimated that the 

 cost of an expedition need not exceed £50,000. 

 The writer of the article says that there is rea- 

 son to hope that, if the Government decides not 

 to intervene, the Royal Geographical Society is 

 prepared to attempt to organize an expedition 

 to the Antarctic and so save the credit of Eng- 

 land. It was primarily at the instigation of 

 this Society that Ross's expedition was sent 

 out over half a century ago, and many other 

 expeditions hardly less formidable have been 

 equipped under the auspices, and partly or 

 wholly at the expense, of this Society. Obviously 

 in this case, however, the funds required are 

 beyond its means. But there can be little 

 doubt that, if the Society is in earnest about an 

 Antarctic expedition, there are men able and, 

 if appealed to in the right way, willing to follow 

 the brilliant example set by Mr. Harmsworth. 

 Under its present able, energetic and enthu- 

 siastic President, Sir Clements Markham, the 

 Society need not hesitate to enter upon this 

 enterprise. Moreover, it is impossible not to 

 believe that the Government, if once the enter- 

 prise were fairly started, would lend its aid in 

 one shape or another. 



The May number of the Engineering Maga- 

 zine contains an account taken from French 

 technical journals of the Societe des Ingenieurs 

 Civils de France and its new building. The So- 

 ciety was organized in 1848 with a membership 

 of 134. The membership now reaches a total 

 of 2,724, and the Society stands as one of the 

 leading professional organizations of Europe. 

 Its monthly transactions, ' Mcmoires et compte 

 rendu des travaux de la Societe des higSnieurs 

 Civils de France,' are everywhere recognized as 

 the record of the best work of French engineers, 

 and membership in the Society is an acknowl- 

 edged mark of professional eminence. A new 

 building has been recently constructed for the 



